LANDLORD'S CORNER

[Rob Tucker]

I have certainly seen the landlord/tenant world from both sides and there are abusers aplenty in the owner and the renter worlds.

One of my most appalling experiences was with a wealthy client who had paid me $20,000 to build fancy stereo cabinets in his home. He called me wanting some attention on a rental property he had. What I found was a slum condition property where this rich guy wanted me to go to Home Depot, buy a cheap storage shack kit, cut a hole in the garage wall and add the shack so he could stuff a few more illegal immigrants
into the sad situation.

I refused and never worked for him again.

Another memorable moment was doing a cold call estimate for an apartment building owner. Low rent. While I was briefly there some folks came by to leave a deposit on an apartment. The owner took the money and when they left chuckled to me that he had taken three deposits on the unit and the first one to move in got it. The rest could sue him if they had the balls.

I left never to return. Felt terrible for the poor folks who got thoroughly screwed and may have ended up homeless. For many families scraping up a deposit is hard work.

This was all years back and on the mainland. It all still goes on.

[ric]

Rob, what you're talking about are crimes. I don't doubt that happens, but the landlords who need representation in the courts are not the ones your talking about. Those guys are scumbags and should get nailed for that. But this business, in general, it's a product for sale on a time basis. But it gets abused, mostly when people don't want to pay (when the time goes by, the product is 'expired'), but also when damage is done, intentionally or by neglect. In most cases, the most a tenant has to lose is his time and hassle to find another place. But landlords frequently lose thousands.

Franny!? Congrats, you stayed 31 years and apparently quite a good part of that time, your rent was subsidized by the landlord, renting to you for 1/3 of market rent! So I think your investment of carpeting and paint was a fair contribution on your part. I wonder, if you are suggesting that the landlord should have done that at the discounted rent you were paying? Didn't the apartment have painted walls and carpeted floors when you moved in?

And regarding tax deduction, I'm sure you have no idea what you're talking about. This is one of the huge mis-statements made by folks who have no idea about business. What tax deductions? Do you mean when he spends money on the building in excess of the rent he collects, he ends up with a net loss, so pays no taxes? Is that your definition of a deduction? And please please PLEASE tell me what "support from the government" is available to property owners? What planet are we on now?

Also, regarding using your rent to pay his mortgage, . . . he also used it to pay insurance, likely water or other utilities, common area upkeep, staff, property taxes, etc., and all the time you got to stay somewhere with complete flexibility and freedom! Good for you, I think it's great to rent, we have more than one place that we also rent year-around so that we can stay when we want and not have a long-term commitment. But this "oh he got rich" thing is bothersome. If he did well, he likely got a fair return on his initial investment. He put up with all kinds of crap through the however many years he had the property and why not make a profit? How many landlords went bankrupt lately? Would you rather that happened? Who is going to bail him out if he loses all of his investment (common story lately)? Do you think the tenants will chip in to help? Of course not, they don't have a thing to worry about. YOU GOT A GOOD DEAL, and that's all there is to it. Good luck with your new venture in home ownership. I hope you figure out what tax deductions there are for you (I'll give you a clue: they won't add up to what you spend on the place).

BTW, I don't think anyone here has said that landlords are all good guys and tenants are bad. But the playing field is certainly not level, with laws protecting misbehaving tenants. If you are a good tenant, you probably get no benefit from such laws.